


A Divine Omen

by idleflower



Category: Long Live the Queen (Video Game), Original Work
Genre: Crack Crossover, Crossover, F/F, Forerunners, Intrigue, Kidnapping, Magical Girls, Royalty, Spaceships, abandoned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-09-19
Packaged: 2018-02-17 23:32:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2327177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idleflower/pseuds/idleflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After crashing alone on a primitive planet, Ensign Jan-Ee was largely concerned with saving herself, until she encountered a princess who was even more in need of saving...</p>
<p>Long Live The Queen, crossing over with original spacefaring setting</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Divine Omen

_I shouldn't be here._

The thought ran through Lieutenant Jan-Ee t'Calyx's mind repeatedly as she picked her way through the forest terrain, even though she was no longer sure what she meant by it. 

Wishing that the _Fierce Talon_ had never decided to enter orbit around QL314, even if they did have the salvager licenses? She had told the commander at the time how unlikely it was that some backwater planet with nothing more than alphabet soup for a designation would hold anything valuable enough to be worth the diversion. 

Wishing that they'd never detected the anomalous energy signatures on the surface? If Ensign Keilani at Ops had been paying a little less attention, the whole planet might have been written off as inhabited but too primitive for formal contact. 

Wishing that she hadn't volunteered for the away mission, that the shuttle hadn't hit inexplicable turbulence, that Pilot Yosh hadn't been killed in the crash, and that the thrice-cursed energy patterns hadn't created too much interference for her to contact the _Talon_? That was the latest in the series of misfortunes that had driven her to this point, but it seemed unlikely to be the last. 

Jan-Ee cast a glance up through the thick branches, wondering how much longer she had before the storm was upon her. No, the latest thing to go wrong was her choice to leave the shuttle at all. It would have provided the best possible protection against lightning strikes, and if the _Talon_ sent a search party, a crashed shuttle would be an easier point to locate than one lost crewmember.

Staying in the shuttle, however, would have left nothing to do but stare at Yosh's too-still body and pray for rescue. Jan-Ee was not the praying type. She'd taken one of the emergency beacons and gone on reconnaissance for a good place to set it up: a high point away from trees and other obstructions, with as little as possible that might interfere with the signal. Her best chance to tell her shipmates that she was still alive, and the worst place to be in the event of a thunderstorm. Which, of course, was now on the way.

One minute she was walking through woods, and the next she was half-blinded by bursts of water falling through the leaves. Jan-Ee cursed planetary weather in general, herself for stupidity, and Yosh for leaving her in this mess. It would have been simpler if she, too, had died on impact.

The _Talon_ might still find her, if they realised anyone had survived the accident, if they risked sending and losing even more people. If Jan-Ee was retrieved, her fate would depend on her conduct while on the planet's surface. Interfering with the development of native culture by setting off rocket flares, allowing her shuttle to be discovered, or worst of all, talking to a primitive human, would probably mean her rapid demotion. If she rose above tragedy to solve the puzzle of those energy signatures -- her original mission -- then she might come out with a medal.

But if the ship never came, if they gave her up for dead or just decided she wasn't worth the effort, then she could be spending the rest of her life on QL314, a planet which by all indications had yet to develop electricity. 'Interfering' might be the only way to avoid a life of sticks and bearskins.

Jan-Ee shivered hard and wiped at her eyes. Why couldn't they have designed these uniforms to be waterproof? At this point, even a cave was sounding like an excellent idea.

Then, at last, she saw it. A large wooden structure, clearly man-made. A house?

If this was a native dwelling, she should avoid it. Even though the translation program should allow her to make herself understood to a local, her appearance could raise all sorts of uncomfortable questions, and if some primitive got their hands on her jolter... She wasn't desperate enough yet to breach those rules. Was she?

A brilliant flash illuminated the building, and Jan-Ee sighed in relief. The doorframe was empty, as were the windows, and the walls were splitting. It had to be abandoned. And that meant she could get out of the rain!

Inside, everything was dark. The room appeared empty, with bare shelves and a fireplace long-dormant, now gone to mud. Clearly, no one lived here.

Still, her training suggested she should seek the most defensible position before settling in to rest, especially since she was alone. Jan-Ee made her way slowly through the empty lodge. In one room, she found an old wooden bed, its frame far too great to allow it to fit through the doors. It must have been built inside the house and left behind by its owners and any subsequent thieves. A lump of fabric suggested the remains of a mattress, but the thought of mold and decay made it not at all appealing. Instead, Jan-Ee slipped into the space between the bed and the wall, finding the floor dry and currently untroubled by pests.

Hidden on all sides and as safe as she could be for the moment, Jan-Ee fell into an exhausted sleep.

...

"... you traitors!"

"... do we do with..?"

"... to the bed, she won't get..."

Jan-Ee came awake slowly, her head pounding. Unfamiliar words tried to force themselves into meaning within her mind. What was going on?

_Someone was in the room!_

Footsteps, heavy. More than one person! Was someone using this house after all? Would she be discovered? 

Jan-Ee held her breath. She could see faint flickers of light, as if someone had a candle elsewhere in the room, but unless they stood directly over her they were unlikely to see her... but what if they did? Would it be better to try and roll under the bed, or to avoid the sound of moving?

A thump. The bed quivered slightly. Metal rattled, and harsh male voices laughed. 

"Sleep tight!" one called, and the heavy steps marched away.

Jan-Ee waited in tense silence. She could still hear the men elsewhere in the house, but nothing from the room itself. Perhaps they really had left someone to sleep on the bed, then?

If they were sleeping here, she needed to make her escape immediately. In the light of morning, her presence would be even harder to hide. She could dive out through a window hole and hope to get clear. If worst came to worst and someone followed her, a jolter attack in the storm might be mistaken for an accident of lightning.

Cautiously, she eased her body into a sitting position. She had to move quietly...

"...Who are you?"

Horrified, Jan-Ee turned her head to see the young woman seated on the bed, staring at her. Woman? Little more than a child! A girl, then, wearing a robe which might have been flowing before the rain forced it to cling to her slender figure. Gold ornaments snaked along her legs and arms, gleaming dimly even in the near-darkness, in harsh contrast to the thick metal collar and chain which fastened her to the bed.

The child raised her chin and spoke in a soft, but imperious voice: "I am Elodie, Crown Princess of Nova. Who are you?"

**Author's Note:**

> Note - This scenario is actually a shameless ripoff of an Andre Norton novel, The Ice Crown, except with different cultures and a different ending if I get that far. Therefore, it's not quite a Forerunners crossover, but a lot of the plot is a dead ringer, so I wanted to disclose that straight up in case it sounds familiar to you!


End file.
